Come Morning Light
by CastleWriter16
Summary: A fluffy ficlet for Hope with cuddling and an ILY. Now with a plot. Happy birthday :)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Short ficlet for Hope in which there is an ILY. It's been sitting on my desktop for a while. I could possibly be coaxed into doing a _24 hours earlier_ mini chapter.**

* * *

Light filtered in leisurely, speckling the bed and illuminating bits of Kate's hair. The slow nature of her breathing told him that she was still asleep, which was good. He was glad to have this moment, be able to watch her, take her in.

Castle propped himself up on his elbow and craned his neck so he could see her face more clearly. She looked peaceful enough, beautiful even though her face was still painted with anxiety from the previous night. But now, anxiety or not, her hair soft and flowing, cascading in a sort of wavy curl at her shoulders, she was simply breathtaking. A sliver of light fell just across her cheek, highlighted the corner of her mouth. He wanted so badly to reach out and stroke across her cheekbone, kiss her temple, but he felt it'd be wrong to wake her.

A content smile tugged at the edges of his lips as he observed her: the steady rise and fall of her body as she breathed, her parted, almost pouty mouth, the way her eyelashes curled up sharply from under her eyes, the dark a stark contrast to the creamy tones of her skin.

She stirred, her brow furrowing slightly in her sleep. The serene look on her face started to slip and before he realized it, Kate's eyes snapped open, her body jerking, tensing as she awoke.

Reality seemed to be setting in. Her muscles began to relax into the mattress again. She gave him a sleepy smile and rolled to face him, curled at his chest, her head at his bicep. He traced over the strong lines of her shoulder, settling his hand at the small of her back, his thumb smoothing the skin there.

He let himself drop down next to her, tangled his other hand in her hair, pressed his lips to her forehead. "Hey."

"Hey," she purred, nuzzling against him. Rick tugged her closer and breathed her in, reveled in the closeness of their bodies.

This was so unlike her: drugged with sleep and quiet. Cuddly. Still, he found it comforting to just be able to hold her, love her.

Kate seemed content with the silence, happy to just let it hang between them, so he didn't say anything. He didn't want to burst the fragile bubble of understanding between them.

After a few minutes of quiet, Kate shifted away from him slightly, cupped his jaw. She stared at him for a long while, the pads of her fingers tracing the lines of his face. Something like joy, happiness, seemed to pour from her eyes and he basked in it, completely in love with her.

"I love you," she murmured, her whole body stilling, waiting.

He leaned into her and brushed his mouth over hers. "And I love you, Kate. Always."

* * *

**Happy early birthday, Hope!**

**:)CastleWriter16**


	2. Chapter 2

"Yo, body drop in Central Park." Kate sighed and put the remains of their last case into the box sitting on her desk.

"So much for a quiet afternoon."

Esposito shrugged and erased what was left of the timeline. "I know. But Castle should be almost done with his meeting, right? He could meet us back here. With food."

"I guess," Kate said distractedly, running a hand through her hair. "You talk to Ryan?"

"Yeah. He's taking Jenny up to the hospital. You ask me, she's pregnant. You ready?"

Kate nodded and grabbed the post-it from out of Esposito's hand. "I'm driving.

* * *

The body was exactly the opposite of what Kate had been hoping for. She'd wanted a gambling idiot with a gunshot to the chest that she could close within a few hours. Instead, she was given an anorexic-looking sixteen year old who'd been sexually assaulted and then stabbed.

"Time of death was about an hour ago," Lanie informed her, looking up from her notes. "Poor thing probably bled out for a while before she died."

"How long is a while?"

"I'm not quite sure without opening her up. Your killer doesn't appear to have hit any major organs."

Kate crouched down next to Lanie and peeled back the girl's jacket to look at the wound. "Is it possible that the homicide wasn't intentional?"

"I doubt it. If the guy's sick enough to pin her to the ground in the middle of Central Park, he's probably not beyond murder."

Sighing, Kate stood back up and made her way towards Esposito, who was talking with the woman who'd found the body. "Alright, thank you Mrs. Jones."

"Any luck?"

"Nothing."

Beckett glanced back over at the body. "How do you do that to a girl in the middle of Central Park without anyone seeing?" She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket and was glad to see a text from Castle waiting for her. Or not. "Castle's meeting is going to be longer than he thought."

"Looks like we're gonna have to find lunch for ourselves then."

"How's Chinese sound?" she asked, already heading towards the car.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

* * *

"Hey, Beckett, check this out. Our vic received a series of phone calls from the same number about an hour before Lanie thinks the assault started. Whoever it was wasn't in Emma's contacts." Kate swiveled around to face the murder board and took another sip of coffee.

This was seriously becoming the longest day ever. She wanted nothing more than to be curled up in Castle's arms. She hadn't seen him since the previous morning when she and the boys had been in the midst of a possible serial killer case. Meetings yesterday, a dinner with Paula that evening, and more meetings with Black Pawn today.

Maybe she and Espo would solve this case, and then she could go home and Castle would be waiting with a bubble bath and some wine. Geez. She needed to stop. Right now. Case. There was a case. Something about phone calls?

"Um. Did you…did you trace the number?"

"Yeah. Eddie Mendez. 21."

"Send a uni to pick him up." Esposito nodded and retreated to his desk, leaving her alone with her thoughts once again.

* * *

Eddie Mendez, claiming to be the hero, had led them to Tom Hernandez, a supposed drug lord that Kate had never heard of, which is why she and Espo were now in a rapidly darkening alley about to kick in a door.

Esposito insisted on doing this one, blamed it on the size of her heels. With an eye roll and a half-hearted shove to the shoulder, she'd stepped aside and let him be macho.

"I must say Detective Beckett, you look even better than the last time I saw you," a voice said quietly, muffled by Esposito's foot connecting with the door. Startled, she spun on her heel and stumbled into Senator Bracken. He grabbed her forearm to steady her and she shook him off, disgusted.

"What are-"

"Shut up and listen to me very carefully. This girl that was murdered, Emma? I would tread lightly and watch your back."

Anger unfurled in the pit of her stomach. "You're involved in this?"

"Oh, I never said that, Kate," Bracken replied nonchalantly. "I just said that if I were you, I would watch my back. Never know where your enemies are hiding. I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt."

As if on cue, a gunshot and a loud "BECKETT!" sounded from inside the warehouse. Fu-

"And Kate, don't think I'm unaware of your investigation. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

She ran inside and found Esposito on the ground, Hernandez standing above him with a gun. God, she was stupid. She'd let freaking Bracken distract her and Javi'd gone in without out her and this was _all her fault._

"NYPD! Drop your weapon, Tom!" Hernandez smirked and inched closer to Esposito. Her gun fired without Kate even thinking about it. She let it clatter to the ground and rushed to Esposito, reached for her phone.

"Javi. Oh my God," she breathed.

"I'm fine. Hit my vest." Her hand fell naturally to his shoulder as he sat up. He fumbled with the velcro and pulled off his vest. No blood. Okay. Good. That was good, right?

"I'm so sorry. Javi, I-"

"Kate."

"This is all my fault and I-"

"Kate. Hey. I'm okay. No blood. What happened?"

"Bracken was…he was there and I just. I don't even know. I'm calling back-up and a bus."

She really was an idiot sometimes. A stupid, incompetent, emotional idiot. He could have been killed and it would have been her fault and she would never have been able to forgive herself.

Kate went into autopilot as she made phone calls; she didn't even register what she was saying other than her badge number and their location and 'shots fired, officer down'.

He could have been killed.

* * *

Kate sat with him while they waited for back-up to get there, but he knew her mind was elsewhere. Her hands were shaking, eyes glassed over with what could possibly be tears. He should probably call Castle and have him come get Kate, take her home. "I'm so sorry, Javi," she whispered. "That should never have happened. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Please stop apologizing. We shouldn't have even come without having back-up. We were down two people. It's not your fault. Bracken probably planned the whole thing."

She nodded, kept her eyes averted. "Yeah. Probably."

"Detective Esposito," Gates called from the doorway. Esposito pushed himself off of the ground and was glad that he managed to do it without wincing. He held out a hand and pulled Kate up before turning back to Gates.

"I'm alright, Sir. Hit my vest. Little bit of ice and I'll be fine."

"Glad to hear it. Have a paramedic check you out and give your vest to CSU. Detective Beckett, why don't you call it a night? You look exhausted."

"I'll stay," she croaked, "until he gets checked out, fill out the paperwork."

"As you wish, Detective."

* * *

"Kate. Go home." Lanie peered up at her from her spot next to Hernandez. "It's late. Get some sleep."

"Why did they even drag you out here?" she hedged. "I mean, I shot him an hour ago. We know that. Why do you have to be here?"

"I have to clear the body before it can be taken to the morgue. Now go home." Kate sat down cross-legged on the cement and put her head in her hands, elbows digging into the sides of her knees.

"I let him distract me."

"Kate, look at this guy. Hernandez is twice the size of Esposito. He could have easily overpowered you and held Javi at gunpoint. Bracken or not, this would not have gone well. You didn't have any other back-up."

Kate audibly exhaled. "He could have been killed."

"But he wasn't." Kate looked physically and emotionally exhausted. Javier had been on his way to the car when she got there, and then Kate had stuck around. She needed to leave. Now.

"Bracken almost got Esposito _killed_."

"Kate. The gun went off in the struggle. The force of it knocked him down. He's okay. He's not dead. He's nowhere near dead."

"Why did Bracken pick tonight?"

So they were back to Bracken. "Honey, Bracken is power-hungry, controlling, manipulative, and completely unpredictable. You can't analyze his behavior; you'll drive yourself crazy. You need to let it go."

"I'll let it go when he's rotting in jail."

* * *

"Kate," he murmured, cradling her against him. She shuddered and he held her tighter. "Hey. It's over. You're okay. Javi's okay. We're okay."

She'd stumbled into his apartment only moments ago, her eyes bloodshot and rimmed with tears, _I can't_ falling out of her mouth before he could even say a word. "I know," he'd said quietly, wrapping his arms around her.

"Castle," she choked, "I could have gotten him killed. _Bracken_ could have gotten him killed. I can't - I can't let him start picking off people. You have to - we have to. I just. He-"

He shushed her with a brush of his fingers across her mouth. "You're not getting rid of me. Ever. I don't care what Bracken does."

She found refuge in the crook of his neck. "Castle, I can't lose you to this. To him."

He pulled away and framed her face in his palms, swiped under her eyes to catch the tears that betrayed her. "You won't."

Kate stepped out of his reach and crossed her arms over her chest, her hands still visibly shaking. "You can't make that promise."

"You don't think I worry about you, too? You chase after criminals and I can't always be there. You run after Bracken like there's no tomorrow. You have a drive I cannot compete with. I spent three summers apart from you, hoping and praying that nothing would happen, that you were okay, because you shut me out. I can't." He took a deep breath, pushed back the rush of emotion boiling over. "I can't be without you, Kate."

He watched his words slice through her like a knife, the realization combined with her growing heartache crippling her. She sank against the door and made herself small, rested her head on her knees. Her shoulders shook.

"Oh, Kate. Kate." Castle closed the gap between them and fell to his knees in front of her, his hands at her shoulders, her back. "Kate. Please talk to me." She turned her head to the side, her cheek against her kneecap, eyes closed.

"I can't - I'm sorry, Rick. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't even think. I just. Can't lose you. I can't live with knowing that something I did-"

"Neither of us are ever going to be invincible. But together, _together_, Kate, we are so much stronger. We have to do this together."

Kate slowly uncurled herself. She reached up and ran her fingers along his jawline, almost in reverence. "Castle."

"Come here." She collapsed against him and fisted his t-shirt. "We're going to be okay," he murmured.

* * *

**Possibly not complete. Thoughts?**

**:)CastleWriter16**


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